Seniors lead Seahawks to winning finish

MIDDLETOWN, R.I. - Salve Regina University women's lacrosse (5-11) ended its season on a winning note, 17-4 over visiting Wheelock College, led by a quartet of seniors - Grace Kelly (Auburn, N.Y.), Karley Malenczak (Sayville, N.Y.), Josephine O'Reilly (Middletown, R.I.), and Kayla Sheehan (Pomfret, Conn.) - in non-league action at Gaudet Field.

O'Reilly, the starting goalie all season long, logged 43:17 between the pipes today making four saves while only allowing two Wildcat goals. Each of her classmates scored a goal, led by three from Malenczak, as the Seahawks finish with wins in their last two games (16-10 at Wentworth last Tuesday).

Wheelock (4-7) cracked the day's scoring column first,  as junior attacker Valerie Ferrante (Milford, Mass.) found the back of the net just 91 seconds into the match for the Wildcats. Salve Regina countered with 10 unanswered goals to take a 10-1 advantage with 4:12 left in the opening half.

Junior defense Sarah Woods (East Lyme, Conn.) led the Seahawks with four goals on the day, and passed Kelly as the season's goal-scoring leader (33-31). Kelly had one goal and two assists today to finish as the team leader in points (31g, 16a, 47 pts).

Woods' first two goals put Salve Regina on top, 2-1, before Kelly added her net finder. Kelly then assisted on Kaitlin Gillespie's (Haddam, Conn.) first goal of the day. The freshman attack netted another in the first period and one more in the second.

Junior Gina Tortorici (Deer Park, N.Y.) and sophomore Samantha Smithwick (Falmouth, Maine) both netted a pair of goals against the Wildcats. With Gillespie's three-goal effort, Salve Regina finished with six players on the season scoring 14 or more goals.

The Seahawks have a two-game history with the Wildcats of 17-3 (March 24, 2012) and 17-4 (today) victories.

Tortorici racked up a game-high seven points on her two goals and five assists to lead the Seahawks, while Woods finished with four goals, an assist, six draw controls, three ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers. Tortorici finishes with a team-best 17 assists on the season.

Freshman goalie Meghan Lewis (South Berwick, Maine) turned away 28 shots for Wheelock. Lewis, who already owns the Wheelock record for saves in a season and career, breaks the 200-barrier and now has 211 saves on the year. She also picked up a school-record tying nine ground balls.

Wheelock will be in action again on Saturday, April 26 when it wraps up the regular season on Senior Day vs. NECC foe Elms College at 3:00 p.m. at Winsor Field.